The Dollhouse....Painted!

Thanks for coming to check out our updated dollhouse!
If you haven't seen our progress over the months, feel free to check out our dollhouse project button on the right side of the blog....I am also recapping some in this post.

Believe it or not, dollhouses have the possibility of being as intense, expensive and involved as a real house remodel. We decided not to take that road, and wanted to decorate our own furniture and re-do it in a fun, inexpensive {but pretty} way that is kid friendly.

What we did:

1) Painted the house in a new color scheme entirely

2) Collected and painted some furniture over the span of a few months

3) Bought a puppy Calico Critter set to live in our house.

4) Replaced roof fabric with shingles

5) Replaced fabric on walls and floor with floral fabric and carpet accordingly

We still have to:

6) Continue adding to our furniture collection...we want to buy a bed and other accents

7) Buy a cow Calico Critter family to join the dogs

8) Keep having fun

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If you go to eBay and type in "dollhouse furniture", you will find anything from Fisher Price plastic chairs that are a few dollars to vintage tables and other items costing hundreds of dollars.
$$$.$$ doesn't = kid friendly (at least not for my 1 & 3 1/2 year old)

Our dollhouse is clearly not a "period" or "collectible" type of dollhouse {much to my husband's dismay}, but meant just for fun and good memories.

Back when we found our dollhouse at an antique mall, it was a lonely, dark and vacant thing sitting on the floor of a booth with a bunch of random things. We had gone there with the goal of finding a dollhouse, and had already passed by a few before we saw this one.
This was it!

Pinterest is full (of course) with a bunch of ideas about dollhouses, and DIY dollhouse stuff, but I didn't want something the size of a bookcase....it had to be:

1) A reasonable size...not too big, or small

2) Sturdy...nothing rickety

3) Decent rooms and a spark of character

4) Noel approved (hope's a baby so she doesn't really care)

It passed all of those requirements, and was calling out to me for a makeover.

The balcony detaches, and the doors on the bottom slide open and closed.

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Over the months, we started collecting some dollhouse furniture and painting it together.
I would search eBay and thrift stores from time to time.

I would ask Noel what colors she wanted to paint the things we bought. Sometimes, I was able to steer her away from the cobalt blue paint I have, and sometimes I let her have her way.

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We visited the fabric store and found a fabric she liked for the walls.
She settled on a pretty rose fabric, after I convinced her the Minnie Mouse fabric might not be best...lol

I used the fabric pieces that were on there already as templates for cutting out the new pieces...it was SO easy this way. To adhere the fabric on the walls, I took clear Allene's glue and painted it on with a paintbrush. The fabric stuck easily and very well.

We primed the entire house with Valspar paint + primer. This covered the dark teal and brown very well.It took 2 coats, and luckily my husband painted the second coat while I did shingles.

Noel picked the color of paint for the border...she was very clear she wanted a PINK house. The shade we chose is called Peach Whisper by Valspar. We only bought a sample jar, and had more than enough left over.

She told me where the kitchen and bathroom were to be...she's a little like me, I think
(very opinionated)

I added some cardstock accents on the front of the house with the Allene's glue again.
Cutting out cardstock was a great option because it was a quick way to add a pretty pattern and pop of color.

I visited Lowes just before Christmas and the salesman had a soft heart for my story about making over my daughters dollhouse for Christmas. He searched high and low to hook me up with a discount carpet remnant. I was so happy about that, and brought it home and cut pieces out in the dimensions of the floor. {Let me warn you..cutting carpet is tough and messy}

One thing I knew that had to go was the ugly fabric lining the roof. From the beginning I envisioned shingles. My husband and I worked til 3am on Christmas morning to finish all of the last details on the house. I have a new appreciation for dollhouse makers, and roofers ;)

I used 2 5x5 tiles for the bathroom and kitchen sections of the house. The tiles easily come out if we ever want to change the layout of the house one day. You can find tile for less than a dollar if you search for it...or maybe find a friend in the middle of a remodel- they might have an extra tile laying around too.

For the last little details, we found some appliques in the sewing and clearance sections of the craft store and adhered those to the wall.

Also, don't pass up the beading or floral sections of your craft store because sometimes you can transform a pendant to be a frame on a wall, or another decorative accent somewhere in the house.

Our furniture will always be changing and added to.
We still have some things to add to the walls, and as the girls get older, we will be able to do new things. I've already learned my sea shell "vase" with fake flowers is not something a 1 year old appreciates, so it is already gone.

Our puppy family is happily enjoying the imaginary fire, and anticipating having the little cow family, whom I mentioned before, move in with them soon.

Isn't the little handmade rug so cute...I got it here!